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Police can only hand out cautions for minor offences and the MoJ has announced plans to scrap the soft punishment altogether.

Critics accused police of using cautions to make the public think they are taking action quickly.

David Green, director of the Civitas think-tank, said: “It’s a quick way for police to process people and show that they are doing something – that’s the attraction because it is quicker than putting them through the courts.

"But if they are releasing people into the community when they are pretty certain that they will re-offend it is not putting the protection of the public first.